Attempting Love Chapter 2
by mikimagic20
Summary: Chapter 2, enjoy. :


"'Ow did I get 'ere? Wrapped up in all this shit...fuck..."

2D lay on his back with his arms and legs sprawled out on the fleshy floor. It had already been hours, and he still hadn't moved from the spot he was in. He had, amazingly, calmed down a little bit, but not enough to actually move yet. He sighed heavily and was really itching for a damn cigarette already...but had none.

"I ain't...gonna get no where if I don' get up..." 2D slowly lifted himself up until he was sitting up. His foot hit something small. He dug around in his soaked pants pocket.

"Mmmf!" 2D struggled to pull something out of his pocket. "Lil bugga'!" 2D pulled out his cigarette lighter and flicked it a couple of times until it caught. The area where 2D was sitting lit up, not much, just a faint dim light from the lighter, but it was better then nothing. 2D looked down at his feet and saw that he had kicked a small piece of driftwood. He reached for it and then put the flame to it, making a small torch, giving more light to the whale's insides. 2D stood to his feet, careful not to trip. He raised the torch and looked around. Yep. He was inside a whale alright.

So now what?

He turned around and raised the torch up to see behind him, more black. Was that the way to the mouth? Or was it to the stomach? He wanted to avoid the stomach...getting broken down and shat out. Then he'd really be a goner. He sighed. What was he going to do? Stuck in this smelly, dark, small place...he was surprised that he was not panicking as much as he should...and what happened back on the beach? The huge hand he briefly had seen? All of the commotion? What ended up happening to that awful place?

2D put his other hand on his chest.

For some odd reason, there was a very small, tugging feeling in his chest that he couldn't seem to get rid of...in fact, he'd dealt with this feeling for years now. It was never really prevalent until about, 5, maybe 6 years ago? He had learned to deal with it, but now it seemed as if it was getting stronger, and a bit more annoying. It wasn't because he was scared, no, that was a completely different feeling in itself. He had seen many doctors about it, thinking it could be a heart problem, only to get told that they found nothing out of the ordinary from his usual issues.

He sighed ad gripped his sopping shirt.

Something weird always seemed to be happening to him. Sometimes he wondered why he couldn't just live a normal life. Sometimes he wondered...what if he wasn't in his dad's shop that night many years ago? What if his eyes were never knocked in? What if he had never met Murdoc or joined the band? How would his life had turned out? Not as 2D, but just as Stuart Pot? He had the money, the fun, the parties, the fame, the girls...but it all seemed to backfire as he was chained tighter to the band...every time he tried to escape, he was always brought back to Gorillaz. And now look where he was, beat up, inside the belly of a whale, possibly staring death in the face. If this wasn't the shittiest day of his life, he didn't know what was.

Meanwhile, a huge Russel swam around the ocean, following Noodle's directions. Noodle sat on his head, staring ahead, occasionally looking back at her compass. She was dirty, her dress was tattered, and she had bruises on her face and arms. So far, nobody, and nothing was chasing them. It was odd really. She was so used to running...fighting for her life all of these years...and now...it was as if nothing happened.

"What's buggin' ya baby girl?" Russel spoke up.

Noodle looked up and snapped out of her thoughts.

"Huh? What?"

"Something's buggin' ya...you alright?"

"Oh...yes..."

"Ah..."

Noodle sighed.

"Russel?"

"What's up?"

"Have you...noticed it's...very calm out here at sea?"

"Well that normally seems ta' be the case..."

"I mean...there are no planes...no guns...missiles...nobody is chasing us."

"Well maybe we took em' all out?"

"No...I mean, nobody has been chasing...me."

"Whad'ya' mean Noods?"

"Well...for six years now, my life has been nothing but running and protecting myself...there have always been people and creatures sent by the Boogieman to kill me...and now...well, now I feel like it's all gone...Everything is done."

"Wow...ya' really think so?"

"I'm not exactly sure what Murdoc has done...but something has changed."

"Well...maybe that's a good thing huh?"

"Perhaps...but I'm not letting my guard down yet..."

"I unda'stand...so...Noodle?"

"Yes?"

"You...sure D is out there?"

Noodle was silent for a moment. The tugging on her heart was still there. She reached behind her for her backpack and stuck her hand inside, pulling out 2D's clown mask. It had floated up to the surface and washed up onto Russel's head earlier while they were swimming around.

"Why this mask, 2D?" she thought to herself.

"Noods?" Russel asked again.

"Can we search a little more Russel?" she asked, eagerness in her voice.

"...Of course."

"...Thank you." she set the mask down and stood up.

"Let me know when you get tired?" she asked.

"Ah, I'm fine Noods. Great exa'cise right?" he joked.

Noodle didn't say anything.

Russel sighed.

A lot has happened to her...she was a completely different person now. He didn't exactly know all that happened to her, but she was traumatized...even though she tried to hide it.

As for Noodle...what was she doing? Did she honestly believe 2D was still alive somewhere? Why was she going through all of this trouble? Maybe because Russel and 2D were the only family she ever really knew? Maybe...

Right now she couldn't say the same of Murdoc...as she was still very bitter towards him after all that has happened. There was so much she wanted to say that asshole...but it wasn't the appropriate time. What would happen after all of this?

Dark clouds slowly began to move in...

"Damn Noods, looks like a storms brewin'..."

"Yes...we have to hurry then."

That was thinking too far ahead...right now they had to find him.

Back inside of the whale, 2D sat back on the fleshy floor. He was exhausted to say the least...and for some reason it seemed as if it was getting harder to breathe inside this thing...his eyes got heavier...he just wanted to sleep...just for a little bit...like it mattered? Did it truly matter if he lived or died? Did anyone really even care? It's not like he was anything special...

He closed his eyes and let his mind shut off. As weird as it was, this is the most peace he has gotten in quite a while. At least if he was going to die, he would die peacefully.

Not even 10 minutes later, 2D slowly opened his eyes again. Suddenly he started to cough intensely.

"Ack! Bloody 'ell!" 2D jolted and stood up. He rubbed his eyes to help his vision clear up, only to see he was engulfed in smoke. He looked to see that he had erroneously set the torch down when he dozed off. Instead of setting it in the water, he had apparently set it on another piece of driftwood, setting it ablaze. And it wasn't a small piece like the torch...it was bigger, and spreading fast...it even lit the water on fire! 2D started to panic again. The whale may have swallowed him, but he also swallowed a lot of the shit Plastic Beach had lingering in it's waters, including spilled oil from the boats and planes taken out in the battle that was happening outside prior. 2D coughed even more, and thought it wise to get below the smoke, so he crouched back onto the ground. This was insane! It was as if a black cloud was following him around all day! Was he now going to get burned alive?

...Wait...fire? Whale? Pinocchio.

He remembered reading the story when he was a kid...they built a fire inside the whale and the whale spit them out! And this was even worse then a tiny campfire. So maybe...

2D suddenly felt a jolt. Then suddenly a huge wave of water began to flood into the whale. 2D's eyes whitened as the wave smashed into him and took him away.

"Aghh!" was all 2D managed to cry out until he was pulled underneath the water.

"Russel look out!" Noodle yelled as the large whale surfaced.

Russel quickly turned around as the whale began to freak out. Out of it's mouth it spit water and pieces of a ship.

Noodle looked closely and saw a human body flying through the air! It had blue hair too! Noodle watched as 2D's limp body smacked hard into the water. Noodle flinched as he hit the water. He floated for a few seconds, then began to sink underneath. He must have been knocked out by the hard fall. Without really thinking, Noodle took a dive into the water.

"Noods!" Russel called.

Noodle quickly swam deeper and deeper. She could hold her breath for a decently long time, but still needed to hurry. She searched around the water, trying to find 2D. It was hard trying to look around because the sea water was full of salt, and was stinging her eyes badly. Finally, she spotted a red shirt...then the blue hair. She quickly swam over to 2D who was still sinking down into the dark of the sea. She reached his body, putting both arms around his skinny torso. At first, she started to sink down with him.

"Mmmf!" she struggled to get a better hold on him, for she never had expected him to be this heavy. She kicked her legs quickly and slowly began to make her way back up to the surface. But something was wrong...she felt something behind her.

The whale. It was coming after both of them. Noodle flinched before a giant hand gripped around the whale and lifted it out of the water.

"Thank you Russel." Noodle thought and quickly kicked to the surface...she was running out of breath.

Finally Noodle breached above the water, taking in a huge gasp of air and somewhat coughing. Her eyes were red and stinging badly from the salt. She could barely see. She kept kicking her feet and tried her best to hold 2D above the water.

"Russel!" she called as she began to feel raindrops fall from the sky.

"I'm here baby doll!" Russel called as he scooped the two up into his hand. He looked down at them, Noodle specifically.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"I-I cannot see..."

"What?" Russel sounded worried.

"No...I can...I just cannot open my eyes...they burn from the salt water..."

"Aw man...and what's up with D? He's way out of it Noods..."

"Please hand me my bag." Noodle held out a shaky hand, her eyes still tightly shut. Russel picked up the tiny backpack with his finger tips and handed it to Noodle. She blindly rummaged through it until she pulled out a canteen of fresh water. She opened it and dumped some of the water on her face and in her eyes, attempting to clean out the salt. After a few minutes, the burning began to subside, and she was able to see a little better.

At that point the rain was beating down harder and Russel began to look uneasy.

"Noodle, there's a real storm headed this way...we need ta' go and now!"

"Right! Place me and 2D on your head!" Noodle called over the rain and wind. Russel did so, but was careful so they wouldn't slip off. Russel then dipped down and began to swim as fast as he could.

Meanwhile, Noodle gently laid 2D down.

"2D?" she shook him gently.

No response.

"Hey! 2D!" she gently slapped his face.

Still no response.

"Shit!" Noodle began pumping at his chest, beginning CPR. She breathed into his mouth, trying to help him breathe again.

"Come on 2D...you can do this...come on!" she pumped at his chest again, and gave a breath into his mouth.

2D suddenly jolted forward and choked up huge amounts of water, gasping for air in the process. He kept coughing violently, before he got dizzy and fell backwards again.

"2D?" Noodle gently put his face in her hands.

"Ehhhh...nuh..." he moaned under his breath.

He was breathing again.

Noodle sighed with relief. He was breathing. He was just really weak and tired. She gently put his head on her lap and brushed his hair out of his face.

2D began to breathe more steadily now...he felt so exhausted. He felt drops of water hit his face...slowly, he opened his eyes to see...a girl? There was a girl looking at him. She was very pretty...with lovely eyes...she looked Asian...she had bruises on her face though...something about her was...familiar...

2D was still way out of it, for he couldn't even keep his eyes open for much longer then a few seconds, before his head slumped to the side again.

"Mermaid..." was all he whispered, leaving a very puzzled look on Noodle's face.

"O...kay..." she said.

Regardless, she was glad that he was alright...for now. Noodle tied her mask back around her face and looked ahead at the rough waters. Somehow, she knew this would not end well. They were heading right into the storm.


End file.
